South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers a speech during his New Year news conference at the Presidential Blue House on January 10, 2018 in Seoul, South Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed the possibility of meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and said President Trump deserved "big credit" for helping to spark the first inter-Korean talks in more than two years

“I think President Trump deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks,” Moon told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. “It could be a resulting work of the U.S.-led sanctions and pressure.”

The Trump administration has rallied for stronger international sanctions against North Korea after the rogue state ramped up its missile launches in the last year and conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

Head of the North Korean delegation, Ri Son Gwon shakes hands with South Korean counterpart Cho Myoung-gyon in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, South Korea, January 9, 2018.

(STRINGER/REUTERS)

Trump, who expressed hope for some progress from the talks, has repeatedly traded barbs with Kim and recently boasted he had a “nuclear button” that was “much bigger and more powerful” than the one the North Korean despot claimed to have on his desk.

While Moon has expressed the desire for more talks and increased cooperation with its rival state, North Korea said it would not discuss its nuclear weapons with Seoul because they were “strictly aimed at the U.S.”

North Korea said it would not discuss its nuclear weapons with Seoul because they were “strictly aimed at the U.S.”

(KCNA/REUTERS)

After Tuesday’s talks, the first since December 2015, North Korea agreed to send a delegation of officials, athletes, journalists, and others to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month.

U.S. officials will work with Seoul to ensure the delegation’s involvement in the Games “does not violate sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council over North Korea’s unlawful nuclear-and ballistic-missile programs,” the State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said.

Trump, who expressed hope for some progress from the talks, has repeatedly traded barbs with Kim and recently boasted he had a “nuclear button” that was “much bigger and more powerful" than Kim's.

(Evan Vucci/AP)

Washington had raised concerns that the overtures by North Korea could drive a wedge between it and Seoul, but Moon said his government did not differ with the United States on how to respond to the threats posed by Pyongyang.

“The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula the two Koreas agreed upon jointly (in the past) is our basic stance that will never be given up,” he said.

“I’m open to any form of meeting, including a summit (with North Korea), under right conditions,” he said. “Having said that, the purpose of it shouldn’t be talks for the sake of talks.”

Washington still welcomed Tuesday’s talks as a first step to solving the North Korean nuclear crisis. The U.S. State Department said it would be interested in joining future talks, with the aim of denuclearizing the North.